Dry your tears

Sorry for the long wait, this part took me forever to get finished. Not that there happens much here but somehow this refused to be written. Glad to be able to move to the next part now and that will hopefully be done much faster.

Part Four: Telling tales

Spike threw a speculative glance at Xander who was standing with his arms crossed in the middle of the crypt much calmer than he had any right to be, given that he had no memory and found himself in the presence of one bloodthirsty creature of the night.

"How come you're not that freaked out anymore? Just a few minutes ago you were screaming my ear right off and now you go round poking undead creatures?"

By all rights the boy should be terrified and had been just that moments before. Maybe he was the one playing one big joke on him? No, that didn't sit right. Somehow Spike couldn't imagine Xander Harris voluntarily spending time in his company, playing amnesiac and all that only to get a chance to poke some fun at him.

No, the memory loss probably was the result of an accident, but then the young man seemed healthy enough, or it was simply part of something typically hellmouthy going on. What the hell? Hellmouthy ... something definitely was not right here, if he was starting to sound like the kids.

Oh well, he was getting distracted again and thus hadn't been hearing what Xander had started to say.

"Start again, yes? And if possible without the mumbling." Spike growled.

"Wasn't mumbling at all. Not my problem if you decide to space out all the time and, hey aren't you supposed to have some super hearing or that?

Xander spat at him, not the slightest bit intimidated by the growling.

"I just explained that I have decided to play along and believe all this nonsense about you being dead and all this being real as I have nothing else to believe at the moment since I can't remember even my own name. Of course this will turn out to be a bad nightmare and in just a few minutes my alarm will sound off and I will wake up and never think about all this here again. Or if I will think about it then only in a, oh wow I had a funny dream last night and you wouldn't believe how real it all seemed way ... so anything else funny you would like to add to my dream while I am still here and not back in the waking world?"

"Oh and this is really the coolest dream I ever had. I never thought it was possible to consciously act in dreams but this seems to be working quite good, see?"

Spike rolled his eyes. This was definitely not how things were meant to be. He'd have to do something to get Harris to take this situation seriously which in itself was quite a task since he always tried to make light of everything, cracking bad jokes all the time and simply being a nuisance every moment he ever had spent in his company.

For the moment he decided to play along until he came up with the definite plan how to best use this situation.

"Nice to know I am in your dreams then, " he muttered under his breath, "this will be so much fun, if you ever get your memory back."

"So then, where is this dream of yours going from here now? What's next?" Spike asked and after a moment of silence from Xander who still stood in the middle of the crypt, added

"Or do you wait for me to convince you this is the real world?"

'If this were only a bad dream, it would explain so much.' Spike thought to himself, really all his life could be deemed a bad nightmare, couldn't it? But still, even this piece of shit he called his life was better than rotting in a grave, least he thought so.

His thoughts from earlier that day came back to him, his memories of long years with Dru, mostly spent in bloodshed but a lot of other things he had had the opportunity to witness as well. What changes in the world he had been priviledged to see coming around, truth be told, he could be glad about the fact that being a demon had allowed him such a long life.

If only a few things in his life had turned out a little bit different though, he might be more inclined to thank the powers or even Angelus that he had been given the chance to be around all this time.

"So what, you're going to tell me something about this nightmare world, or maybe even simpler, tell me something about myself." again Xander interrupted his thinking process.

Well, tell him about his life. Yeah, he could do that for a start. Maybe not exactly anything but maybe something close to the truth, keep his options open in any direction as he was still undecided where to go with the situation.

If he told Xander just the necessary things, some truths, half truths and left a few things out, he could still decide later, what to do.

Having decided on a course of action for the moment, Spike stretched to the side of the bed and reached under it where the hidden stash of whisky should be waiting. If he was going to tell stories at night, least he could do was getting sloshed in the process. Yes, there were still at least two bottles and he came up again with one, opened it and drank a big gulp before settling down more comfortable than before.

Xander still stood in the middle of the room, quietly observing his actions.

"So, then come over here. No need for you standing there like some bloody statue, is there? Get here and have a drink, guess you can do with one." Spike gestured towards the bed as he spoke but Xander made no move to come closer.

"Chickening out now? I promise not to bite ... so move your ass here and sit down."

Whatever Xander had been waiting for, he now hesitantly set himself into motion and dragged his feet over to where Spike lay sprawled out on the bed. Spike made some space on his left and and held out the bottle towards Xander who took it after another stare and drank a small bit of the licquer.

While Xander was trying to get into a comfortable position on the bed without getting to close to the vampire and thus moving around quite a bit, Spike contemplated what he should be telling him about his life.

Now that he had a moment to think about it, Xander's acceptance of the situation as well as the astounding absence of panic was very untypical behaviour for him. Remembering the day a few weeks back when Willow had tangled with all their memories and the way Xander had reacted there in the Magic Box upon waking up next to strangers, Spike felt a sense of uneasiness wash over him.

Could be something different than an accident with memory loss maybe. If his reactions were so different than normal, maybe something was going on again. The boy should be yelling at him, demanding to be taken home, freaked out at learning that he was a vampire, well all the normal reactions, but there was nothing.

In fact, Xander seemed more relaxed than he ever had seen him under normal circumstances.

"Taken any fancy pills or some shit this evening, pet?" he asked at last, still deep in thought about the strange behaviour of Xander Harris.

A snort came from next to him. "Hey, remember, it's me amnesiac dreaming guy, the one who stumbled through your door without knowing who he is? How on earth should I know if I had taken anything? I don't feel drugged, if that helps anything and why should I, it's all just a dream, remember?"

Rolling his eyes at the stupidness of Xander insisting on staying in his fantasy, Spike settled down and began his tale of the life of one Xander Harris.

He started with all the mundane things like his name, age, family, the long succession of different bad jobs, well the ones that Spike had been present for, resulting in his current job for the construction company and soon found that he was enjoying himself more than could be expected.

Had been to bloody long since someone had been willing to listen to him and Xander was very good audience. Laughing in just the right places, not much interrupting and even asking a witty question now and then.

Vampires, demons, the Hellmouth under Sunnydale, Slayers and witches, nothing seemed to faze Xander. He listened with interest, taking a swallow out of the bottle from time to time.

"So what are my superpowers then?" he asked as Spike paused to take a drink himself.

"Superpowers?"

"Well, from what you're telling, it seems everyone around here has some. Slayer, vampire, witches, werewolves and what not. So, I get to have something too, don't I?"

Hearing the eager expectance in the voice, Spike found himself supressing his first answer, which would have been something like: 'Nothing remotely special about you.' and heard his answer:

"Not exactly superpowers. Not like that. You are one hundred percent human and that's what's special about you. That you throw yourself into the the good fight without having the backup of some extra powers."

Xander slumped back down on the bed with a disappointed expression on his face that Spike found to his own surprise wishing to be able to wipe away. Still, his answer had been the truth and even more so, he could clearly see the speciality that lay in Xander fighting along the good guys. Not that he would ever have said this out loud, weren't it for these extraordinary circumstances. Anything he said tonight could always be taken back or explained away as part of his plan to lure Xander in.

Still, he felt the need to distract Xander, and thus blurted out the next first thing that came to his mind.

"Oh well, you are some kind of demon magnet, all right? Attract them like no one else I've ever seen before."

At that Xanders head came up a little bit more and encouraged by this reaction, Spike told him all the stories he had witnessed and the ones he had only heard of about Xander and the demons that had tried to seduce him. He even made up some stories and soon he had Xander laughing along with him at the tale of a Purlag demon that had supposedly admired Xander and followed him around for days, even going so far as to forgetting that she should avoid wetness and thus had been melted away by a sudden heavy downpouring rain while she had been watching Xander at work.

So, maybe he didn't tell all the stories because for some reason Spike couldn't quite put a finger on he had avoided any mention of Anya, the demon or ex-demon Xander was about to marry in a few weeks time. Well, no reason to upset Xander with that now, was there? If he decided to help Xander get home there would still be time to remedy this and if not, then no reason to tell him at all.

"Time to get some rest now, don't ya think?" Spike asked when he noticed Xanders eyelids drop again not for the first time. "Let's get some shuteye and we'll see if you're still here in the morning or all woken up in your own bed."

Xander who was already half asleep didn't protest only mumbled, "where can I ..." before drifting off again.

"Bed's big enough for both of us, guess we can share." Spike answered and dumped the last of the bottles on the ground next to him. He blew out the candles on the box and with a last look over his shoulder at Xander, added:

"Not like we haven't slept together before."

TBC